Until the End, and Even Then
by Reign of Rayne
Summary: At the Battle of Marineford, the Whitebeard Pirates weren't alone. After all, the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army had a personal connection to the pirate condemned to death.


_Posting things while on hiatus is definitely my style. I know! I'll say I'm on an_ updating _hiatus. That way, I'm not completely lying. Hahahaaa... Anyway, this is a oneshot from my Tumblr that I wanted to put on here because I absolutely love it._

 _As a warning, this story skips around a lot._

* * *

"Sabo! Sabo, did you hear the news?"

The blond sighed, glancing at Koala. "What is it now? I just got up."

Koala frowned. "It's two in the afternoon, you dummy. What were you doing?"

"Sleeping."

"Okay, fine. Ignoring your awful sleeping habits, check out the newspaper!" Said newspaper was then shoved into Sabo's hands and he skimmed it, eyes quickly focusing on the front-page article, on the headline printed in bold that drew the eye like a magnet.

He read it again. Frowned. Repeated the cycle. "Koala…" He said slowly, his knuckles turning white as his grip tensed.

"Yeah?"

"I've never met Fire Fist in person before, correct?"

The fishman karate assistant instructor tilted her head. "No, why? Is this about your memories?"

As though the word was a cue, Sabo's mind flashed to a time he'd forgotten, a time before the burns covered his body, before he'd lost most of the vision in his left eye, before he'd been a revolutionary at all, back when his life had been carefree and wild.

"—bo? Sabo? Hey, you okay?"

Sabo blinked, instinctively pushing Koala's waving hand away from his face. "I'm fine. I just…"

 _"I want to find the meaning of my existence."_

"—oing it again! Stop spacing out! Jeez, I just gave you a newspaper. Are you sure you're okay? Do you need more sleep?"

Sabo tore his eyes away from the paper, met Koala's gaze, and promptly collapsed.

* * *

"Dragon, there's something I need to do."

"You're still recovering, aren't you?"

"It's more important than that. I'm not here to ask permission, sir. I'm going."

"Mm. I see."

* * *

Sabo stood at the helm of the flagship, the leading craft in a fleet of almost fifty ships, all of them loaded with revolutionaries.

Of course, they weren't travelling as the revolutionary fleet. They didn't fly the revolutionary flag, and the identifiable markings on some of the ships had been temporarily covered up.

Looking back at the massive numbers of people, Sabo found himself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of friends he had that were willing to support him on a mission to save a man he hadn't really cared about in more than a professional capacity until less than a week ago.

"Sir! We're approaching the gate!"

Sabo waved in acknowledgement and then whistled sharply, spurring the five coated ships—all they'd been able to manage in such a short time—to submerge. He exchanged one last look with Koala and Hack, who were leading the ships above water, before he went under and returned his attention to the sea in front of him.

 _"Wait for me, Ace."_

* * *

"Listen," Sabo said, immediately gaining the complete and undivided attention of the strike team he'd personally handpicked. "We're not going to be flashy. We're not going to be anything but the rescue team. I don't want any fancy tricks; our disguises will only hold for so long. Sune, you've got the key?"

The short woman in front nodded, producing the small metal piece. "It's molded to fit the cast of the Kairoseki cuffs. If nothing else, you can probably break them with your fingers."

Sabo nodded acknowledgement as he pocketed the key. Of course, doing that would risk shattering Ace's wrists, so it was a last resort.

"Everyone knows and understands the plan?" Sabo asked one last time.

"Yes, sir!"

"Good."

* * *

Sabo strode through the crowds of confused and shouting marines, every step deliberate and heavy. His marine coat snapped in the winds coming from the conflict in the bay; Oars Jr. had already fallen, and Sabo wasn't surprised at all by the lengths the Whitebeard Pirates were willing to go to just to rescue Ace.

But they weren't going to make it.

Sabo could see that much clearly. Their forces were too spread out, the marines' defenses too well equipped to handle an attack like this. Even Whitebeard himself hadn't been able to break the massive wall.

He was quickly approaching the execution platform—well, the stone base surrounding it, anyway—and none of the three admirals seemed to have noticed him yet. The revolutionary's focus narrowed to the task at hand, only his Observation Haki making sure that he wasn't in danger of being attacked from behind.

Sabo took a deep breath, bracing himself. Then he exhaled and moved.  
One hand up, grabbing a beam, hauling his body up—

Another, kicking off with his foot for another boost—

A stray bullet nearly hitting him until he twisted out of the way, going with the motion to catapult himself up once again—

A brief glance at the battlefield—

Destruction, smoke, fire raging—

Shouts now ringing through the air, marines noticing him—

Sabo grit his teeth and pulled himself all the way onto the platform, his feet hitting the wood with a solid _thunk_.

His gaze swept over Garp, over Sengoku, over the executioners, and landed firmly on Ace. As if sensing Sabo's look, the young pirate returned his gaze, wide gray eyes quickly narrowing before the pirate looked away, most likely not wanting to let a marine see him at his weakest.

Sabo tried to ignore the pang of hurt in his chest.

"What are you doing up here, Ensign?" Sengoku asked, his eyes hard. "Go back to your post right now. This is a war!"

"Sir," Sabo said, looking straight down, "I have news about Whitebeard's forces."

"Oh?" The Fleet Admiral looked unimpressed. Garp hadn't even looked in Sabo's direction yet. "Speak."

Sabo didn't even try to stop the twisted grin that stretched his lips into a parody of a sincere smile. "Why, sir," he straightened, looked the Fleet Admiral right in the eyes, "you've miscalculated. They're not alone."

On cue, four more ships appeared on the horizon, accompanied by blinding flashes of light—flares—that momentarily blinded anyone that looked in their direction.

Sabo took advantage of the confusion, yanking off his marine jacket and leaping forward, managing to cover Sengoku with it before the man could retaliate.

"Ergh," Sengoku managed, falling to one knee, stuck under the influence of the Kairoseki lining that the jacket contained.

"What are you doing?" Garp growled, now standing between Ace and Sabo. The revolutionary knew he had only seconds before Sengoku recovered—though he doubted that the Fleet Admiral had experienced the effects of Kairoseki recently.

Sabo set his jaw, his blond hair waving in the breeze, the scar on his face bare for all the world to see, and said, "I'm here to set my brother free."

A bubble of silence seemed to wrap around the platform. Ace's head whipped in Sabo's direction, his eyes shooting wide open while Garp tensed.

All the color drained from Ace's face as recognition flickered behind his eyes. "S—"

"Not now, please," the revolutionary said tersely, silently apologizing for cutting Ace off. He had a schedule to keep, no matter how badly he wanted to grab Ace and never let go. "Move."

"No," Garp replied. Sabo sighed.

"I figured you'd say that. Mr. 3?"

"Eh?" One of the executioners jumped. "How—"

"Do it," Sabo snapped, authority making his voice practically echo, and a second later Garp was trapped in a waxy prison. "Thanks."

Sabo crouched next to Ace—who was still pale and trembling slightly while he looked at Sabo, no doubt taking in every detail. The key went in the lock, turned, and Ace's shackles fell.

Fire roared to life across Ace's shoulders, but Sabo didn't give him any time to enjoy his newfound freedom. "Let's go!"

"Hey, wait!" Ace started, but Sabo was hearing none of it and bodily threw Ace off the platform despite the older man's protests. Mr. 3, his cover blown, jumped after the brothers, narrowly missing being grabbed by the now-recovered Sengoku.

New alarms blared to life across Marineford, almost deafening in volume, but Sabo didn't break stride. Ace stumbled once, twice, but Sabo dragged him along, trying to ignore the fact that _I found Ace he's okay my brother is okay_ —

"Where are we going?" Ace demanded, finally catching up to Sabo and running beside him, blasting away any marines that thought they were a match for the great Fire Fist. "And what do you mean, my bro—"

"There are better times for discussions like these, Ace," Sabo interrupted, ducking under a sword swing and sending the attacker flying with a well-placed kick. " _Please_ ," he added, barely keeping his voice from cracking.

Ace's lips thinned, impatience, desperation, and hope warring within his eyes before he nodded. "Okay."

Bullets whizzed through the air, one drawing a line of blood across Sabo's cheek, but he didn't even flinch. He kept running, his breathing steady and even despite how his heart was pounding, Ace keeping pace beside him.

"What's the plan for getting out of here?" Ace asked once they'd escaped from the majority of their pursuers. There were still several coming, and Sabo could sense the admirals coming. Luckily, Kizaru had been distracted by Marco, and the First Division Commander was doing an admirable job of stopping the admiral from chasing Ace.

"Stop looking behind you," Sabo lectured, purposefully avoiding answering Ace's question.

"Seriously, do you even _have_ a plan?"

"Sure," Sabo replied. Ace shot him a suspicious look.

"Then why are we just running towards the water? Do you have a ship waiting? Wouldn't it just get blown apart?"

"Patience," Sabo said. Ace stared at him for a second before sighing in irritation—which was mostly a result of his recent captivity and near-death experience, and not truly aimed at Sabo.

Ten seconds later, Ace began to slow down, his eyes fixed on the ocean spreading out before him. "So, about that escape ship—"

"Tell you later," Sabo said, planting two Haki-infused hands in Ace's back and shoving the man over the side. Ace let out a remarkably high-pitched yelp of shock before he splashed into the swirling waters below. Sabo turned back to the pursuing marines, seeing the admirals coming. He had mere seconds.

"So long, boys!" Giving the marines a sarcastic solute that couldn't adequately express how much he despised the institution they represented, Sabo tipped backwards, feet losing traction until he was free falling, and then—

 _Blue_.

* * *

"Shit, Luffy's there? Then get him out! I don't care what you have to do, get him out!"

 _"Sir, we can't—"_

"He's my brother!"

 _"…Roger that, sir."_

* * *

Sabo knocked softly on the door of the med bay and waited for a response. As he stood there, his eyes went to the small window in the opposite wall, which displayed a spectacular view of the ocean floor.

"Of all the people I expected to get help from," Sabo muttered to himself, "you were not one of them, Trafalgar Law."

Deciding that he'd waited long enough, Sabo opened the door and shut it quietly behind him, quickly taking in the sight that met his eyes.

Luffy and Ace were tangled together, arms wrapped around each other in a tight embrace despite the fact that both were clearly sleeping soundly. Sabo glanced at the bandages completely covering Luffy's body and tried not to wince. There were considerably fewer on Ace's body, and Sabo only had a few scratches, but that didn't change how terrible the events of the past few weeks had been.

Sabo's guilt was only made worse when he thought about what his two brothers had gone through while Sabo had just let it happen, oblivious and uncaring to their pain and struggles.

Ace had lost a brother to betrayal and thrown himself into catching the man who did it. It was such an _Ace_ move that Sabo shook his head at the mere idea, mentally reprimanding his brother for doing something so foolish. Apparently, Ace's reckless behavior from when he was young hadn't faded at all.

Sabo would probably lecture him about that when Ace woke up.

As he looked at Ace, his hands tightened into fists, reminding himself that if his memory hadn't returned when it had, if he hadn't recalled that the man about to be executed was his _brother_ , then he never would have gotten to meet Ace alive again.

The thought sent a painful jolt throughout Sabo's body and he hurriedly dragged his mind away from such thoughts, acutely aware of the hollow feeling that had threatened to swallow him whole in the hours leading up to Ace's execution, when the fears of failure had clustered around him, whispering doubts and what ifs that had made Sabo want to tear Marineford down brick by brick.

The revolutionary calmed himself and looked at Luffy, who still looked so young even though so many years had passed. Despite his calm appearance, Sabo knew that his younger brother had new scars, including a horrific one across his chest that had come from Akainu, so determined to get at least one notorious pirate that horrible day that he'd batted Koala and Hack aside just to get to Luffy.

Sabo was grateful that everyone had survived—injured, of course, but alive. Even a week later, Ace and Luffy had yet to wake up, though they were healed enough to permit sleeping like this.

Admittedly, Sabo was proud of Luffy, even though he also wanted to bop the kid over the head for doing something so reckless. Luffy had demonstrated a determination, a loyalty, a _strength_ so profound by coming to Marineford just to save Ace, and Sabo was sure that Luffy's actions would once again turn Ace's world on its head.

He didn't find the thought unappealing; after all, he'd been relieved the first time Luffy had answered Ace's question—

 _"Do you want me to live?"  
_

And now Luffy had answered it again, both through his actions and through the proclamation made in defiance to Akainu's question:

 _"Why did you come here, Straw Hat? Do you crave your own death that much?"_

 _"I did it because he's my brother!"  
_

Ace hadn't heard the words, of course, too busy being pulled out of the ocean by Law's crew, but Sabo had no doubt that they would make their way to his thickheaded brother soon enough.

Ace suddenly jerked, expression tightening in pain. Immediately, Luffy moved as well, pulling himself even closer to Ace.

Sabo smiled fondly at the sight, so reminiscent of their childhood, and walked over to his two sleeping brothers, sitting on what little free space remained on their bed, content for the moment to just be with them.

He couldn't stop glancing at Ace's face, though. Some kind of deep-rooted fear kept rolling through him in unpredictable waves, fear that he'd forget again, that he'd lose his brothers—

A hand on his arm halted his thoughts in their tracks.

"Lu—" Sabo started, but he was cut off when Luffy pulled him down. "Uph!"

"C'mere," the unconscious boy murmured, shifting slightly to accommodate Sabo. "Hungry…Sabo…meat…"

Sabo's worries about Luffy potentially eating him were pushed to the side when Ace also shifted, wrapping one arm around Sabo and embracing him much like he was Luffy. The eldest's above-normal body heat was incredibly soothing, and Sabo found his eyelids drifting shut despite the fact that he wasn't even that tired.

 _Yeah, right,_ his inner voice snarked. _You haven't slept in days._

"Idiot," Ace muttered, lips twitching.

"Yeah," Sabo agreed softly, his mind going fuzzy. "I guess I am."

 _But I'm so happy I can see you again, Ace, Luffy._

* * *

 _A/N Ah, angst, my old friend._

 **Bonus:**

Ace blinked, staring at the infamous Surgeon of Death, the man's words repeating themselves over and over in his head but not quite fitting together.

"H-how do you know he said that?" asked Ace instead of trying to figure out the meaning.

Law's dark smirk never wavered, but there was something odd playing behind his eyes, something that Ace thought looked familiar. "It's in the news, Fire Fist-ya. And he is quite adamant about repeating it to anyone who questions his motives."

Ace swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "Thanks for telling me."

His head was spinning, and he leaned against the wall as Law walked away. Then he slowly slid down, until he was sitting, eyes staring at the opposite wall without really seeing it.

Then he bit his lip, balled his hand into a fist, and slammed it against the wall as hard as he was able without using Haki or his powers. The shock of the impact rattled him to his core, but Ace didn't pay attention to that.

"Luffy, you idiot," he bit out around trembling lips. Something warm and wet streaked down his face, and when it crossed over his lips, Ace tasted salt.

* * *

A little ways down the hall, around the corner, Sabo smiled softly and tipped his hat down so that it shadowed his eyes before turning and walking back towards his temporary quarters.


End file.
